Steve's Return
by KattyBorz
Summary: He was not expecting this when he came home from school this afternoon. He wasn't expecting to see his dad walking out of the elevator in the lobby. He wasn't expecting to see him smile and nod in Peter's direction. He was not expecting to walk into the living room to see his pops staring at a half full glass of whiskey on the coffee table. SUPERFAMILY


**I'm baaaaaaack! Again. So, I am dipping my toe into the Superhusbands and Superfamily pool. I've never done an Avenger's one shot, so I decided to give it a try. I'm finding I'm obsessed with Stony that it's ridiculous!**

 **Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! I tell you, nothing! If I did, Steve and Tony wouldn't have just had a Civil War. JS**

 **Enjoy.**

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 **Chapter One: Steve's Return**

"You're taking him back? Just like that, after everything he did, you're just going to let him in again?" Peter asked, his face scrunched up in confusion, pain and fear.

"Pete, I know it's been a tough time but—" Tony reached out to his son, hoping to bring some kind of understanding to the teenager. He loved this kid more than life itself and he didn't want to hurt him anymore than he already had.

"No!" Peter yelled as he launched off the couch. "A tough time would be just missing my dad. What _he_ did to us, to you? And then to just show up out of the blue and expect us—"

"He's not expecting anything of us, Pete." Tony interrupted calmly. Peter looked at his papa and he saw the weariness etched on the older man's face and his argument crumpled. He flopped down next to Tony and just stared at him for a moment. He looked exhausted and just ready for something to come to an end. If Peter had a guess, it would be the fighting.

"Is he going to be staying here?" Peter asked carefully. Tony shook his head.

"No, he's staying with a friend of his across the river." Tony turned to Peter and gave him a small smile. "He won't approach you unless you are ready. He told me to make sure you knew to take your time, that he'll take whatever you can give him."

Peter casted his eyes to the floor and nodded solemnly. He was not expecting this when he came home from school this afternoon. He wasn't expecting to see his dad walking out of the elevator in the lobby. He wasn't expecting to see him smile and nod in Peter's direction. He was not expecting to walk into the living room to see his pops staring at a half full glass of whiskey on the coffee table. He was not expecting the first words out of Tony's mouth.

 _"_ _Your dad is in town. He wanted to make amends and fix what he did."_

Tony pushed off the couch and carried the glass of whiskey to the kitchen. Peter watched proudly as Tony dumped the alcohol into the sink. His pops had a challenging time staying away from his whiskey after his dad left; Peter would come home sometimes to find him slouched in his dad's arm chair completely drunk and slurring apologies for being a failure. The next morning Tony promised Peter that he won't ever drink again. And he has kept that promise. Sure, there were times where Tony poured himself a glass, but he never took a sip. He always stared at it, sometimes he'd speak his thoughts sometimes it was just quiet contemplation. But every time he would walk to the kitchen and dump it down the drain.

"Pops?" Peter asked quietly. Tony made a sound to show he was listening but he didn't look away from the sink. "Are you and Dad getting back together?"

Tony sighed and shrugged. "I don't know, kiddo." He pushed off the counter and made his way back into the living room. "That's something that your dad and I have to talk about." He sat down next to his son and smiled at him as he placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. "I know I don't have a lot of answers for you, but I can tell you one thing that will never change. No matter what your dad and I fight about, the one thing that we agree on implicitly is your happiness and what is best for you. Your dad loves you as much as I do. Well, maybe not as much because I definitely love you way more than the winghead could even possibly imagine and that's an argument we've been having since the dawn of time, but I do know he loves you a hell of a lot, kiddo. So, if and when you decide you are up for it and you want to talk to him, I just ask that you keep an open mind and hear what he has to say."

Peter nodded and leaned into his father's shoulder. Tony wrapped an arm around his son and held him close. "What if I don't want to hear him out?" Peter asked. "What if I just wished he had stayed away?"

Tony hummed. "Well, that's up to you. But I think later on in your life you would wish that you at least talked to him. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. He's not going to make you see him or live with him. He just wants a chance to talk to you and see how you're doing."

"Pops, what did he say? Earlier?" Peter looked up at his father's face and he could already see him withdrawing emotionally. "It's just… I saw him in the lobby before I came up. And I saw the glass on the… I just… I don't want you to lose the progress you made." Tony sighed.

"We just sat here." Tony started. "For two hours, we just sat here not saying a single thing. And then he started to speak. He said that he was sorry for what he did to us, he said that even if he could he wouldn't change what happened. He wished that it could've ended differently but he doesn't regret helping his friend. Which I can't blame him. If it were you, I would do anything to make sure you would be okay. He told me that he misses you, that he hasn't stopped thinking about you since the day he left. That one of the things he does regret is getting you caught in the middle, making you feel like you didn't have a choice. Like that was his fault. I was the one who shipped us out to Germany hoping that seeing you would remind him of what he was throwing away." Tony scoffed and stared up at the ceiling. "Fat lot of good that did us."

"You didn't make me do anything, pops." Peter said. "I wanted to go. I wanted to help. I wanted us to be a family again."

"I know, Petey." Tony kissed Peter's head. "I don't know how well that will work out now."

"It's up to you, pops." Peter pulled away and looked at his father. His brown eyes were watery and he had a sad smile on his face. "What is it that you're always telling me? Make my own choices, stand up for myself and never let anyone make me do something I don't want to do. Whether you and Dad pursue a relationship again is completely and totally up to you and I'll be by your side no matter what you choose. I'll always be in your corner, pops."

Tony's eyes closed and something changed in the way he held himself. His posture straightened, the tension left his shoulders and his face relaxed. He looked younger and surer of himself. Something that Peter hasn't seen in a year. Pride blossomed in Peter's chest at being able to restore his father's confidence in himself.

Tony looked at his son and couldn't stop the beaming smile from lighting up his face. This boy was something else. He could make Tony see the good in himself and to be proud of the things he's done to help people every day. Peter was Tony's pride and joy, some one that Tony could believe in and strive to do better by, because as a parent that's all you can hope for.

"Thank you, Peter."

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I KNOW! Gosh, I haven't posted stories in a while! I'm so happy that I'm back in the biz again! So there will be another part! It'll be posted here shortly! Y'all leave me some reviews or shoot me a PM. I don't care. I love hearing from y'all!


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